Story Before the Beginning: Darkened Time
by Kicho101
Summary: A story about what happened before Dark Cloud 2. Enjoy!
1. Abandoned

Finally!

I deleted my story from FanFiction and decided to try and fix up the first chapter when I realized it was gone!! Gar, I miss-named a file at some point, and now I start over. Ah well, at least I have a clean slate. Hope you enjoy Darkened Time ver. 3.0!!

The name in the ( )s represents who's point of view this is from.

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(Fezdon)

I slowly crept up the wooden stairs as the rotted material creaked and groaned dangerously. I looked around carefully, taking care to stay in the middle of the wooden boards. The walls bent and swayed in the wind, looking as if they could fall at any moment. The trees hung sadly, outlined by the feeble light the stars gave off. I looked back at Zeno, wishing that I could find some miracle to shut him up. Riza followed Zeno, looking just as annoyed as I was.

"I don't get it, why are we here? This is most likely illegal. Who knows how much trouble we could be in if anyone found out we were here." Zeno was ranting on behind me. He had been hesitant from the beginning, but it was too late to back out now. Now he was nervous, and it wasn't hard to tell.

"I say we should turn back before we get caught. It's not like-"Zeno stopped abruptly, mid-sentence. "Do you hear that?" he whispered. I listened, holding my breath. At first all I could hear was the creaking of the old house, but slowly a low mummer met my ears.

"Sounds like…" I started, working the sound around in my skull.

"I think someone's talking." Riza finished for me.

"Right, now would be a good time to leave." Zeno said nervously. He placed his foot on the stair behind him. As he slowly backed down, I heard an ear-shattering crack. I looked back to see that the edge of the stair Zeno had his set foot on had shattered, the shards of wood clattering down to the ground. The quiet murmur from above ceased, and I heard something move across the floorboards. Riza grabbed Zeno by his collar and started dragging him down the stairs.

"Come on Fez, we're leaving." I nodded, but looked up at the top floor. If we left now, there was a chance we would never get to see this place again. I hesitated, a precious few seconds that cost me dearly. I turned around to head back down when I saw a horrifying sight. The base of the stairs split, sending splinters of wood everywhere. I felt the stairs beneath me tilt slightly. There was no way I could make it back down and over the mess before the thing totally collapsed. I turned around, this time heading for the top of the stairs in hope of finding another way down. I stopped short when I saw that the top end had also cracked. I felt the stairs jolt as the wood bent and rotted supports broke away.

I briefly saw two dark shapes standing above me on the top floor of the house before the staircase gave in and crashed down, with me in the middle of the confusion. Dust swirled around me and I lost purchase on which way was up. The whole world seemed to be moving in slow motion. I finally hit the ground hard, my chest crushed on impact. I felt my vision flicker as small, multicolored splotches danced in front of my eyes.

After the dust had cleared, I sat there, coughing and gasping for air. After I caught my breath, I rolled onto my back and concentrated on looking around. The staircase had crumbled to ruble, shards of wood still falling from the top floor. I looked up toward the sky, desperate for help, when two dark shapes on the top floor caught my attention.

There were two people, one tall and one short, but that's all I could discern in the twilight. I squinted, trying to make out some details of the two figures. The short one was pointing down at me while talking to the other person. I strained to hear what they were saying but couldn't make anything out. I wanted to yell at them for help, but the words wouldn't form. A movement from above me caught my attention.

I looked up in time to see a large piece of wood hanging above me. It was only supported by a tangled vine, and it swung dangerously in the breeze. This wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't directly over my head. I tried to get up, but my limbs refused to move. I heard a small snap. It wasn't much, but I knew what it meant. The large board had broken free of the vines. Seconds later it was sailing down towards me. I only had time to put my hands up defensively and tilt my head to the side before impact. I was too late to do much else. The heavy bored slammed down onto my outstretched hands. It broke the fall, and possibly a bone or two. But the torture wasn't over yet. The board slipped off of my hands and onto my head.

Everything grew bright for a second, then dimmed as I lost vision. Rainbows raced across my eyes. Colors blended and swam into each other as everything slowly went dark. The last thing I saw was a bright red light, and one of the figures. A flash of white and an evil smile. I slipped gratefully into unconsciousness.

I cracked my eyes open. The world spun around me, and it was still blurry. Slowly, though, outlines formed and everything found a solid place. Maybe I had been out for and hour, or a day. Everything was still spinning around in my head, and concentrating only made my brain hurt. I thought I was buried under something, but I looked down to see I was just sprawled out on the ground. Everything felt heavy and weak. I tried to move my head, but it felt as if it had been cut in half. Tears formed in my eyes from the extreme pain. To put it simply, I felt terrible. I waited at least half an hour before I attempted to move again.

This time I could move my head without the tears. I slowly flexed my hands to get some life into them. Getting bolder, I moved my arms and then my legs. Nothing seemed to be broken. I lifted myself into sitting position. My hands hurt as if I had stuck them in a blender. I looked at them to see they were only slightly bruised and scraped, but they hurt like hell. I squished them together and wished they were still numb. I took the time to look around at my surroundings.

I gasped inwardly as I saw a huge house surrounding me. It looked like your average, giant mansion, except for a few things. It had absolutely no furniture, not even a light. But somehow, the walls seemed to glow, as if they were being projected into space. Still looking around, I caught sight of a thick beam of light and, as it turned out, the only other source of light in the house. I stood up and walked over to it, resisting the urge to hold my hand in front of it. It made a connection from the wall to four other light beams. I traced it to the intersection of the beams.

It turned out that my idea of a projector wasn't far off. What I arrived what looked like a box with a four circular windows in it, one on each side and the top, where the strong light beams shot out. I put my hand in front of one of the beams experimentally. Suddenly everything dimmed as one whole wall of the house disappeared. I pulled my hand away, and instantly the house came flickering back to life. I saw two green buttons on top of the strange box. They were in the shape of two arrows pointing opposite directions. I took a chance and pushed one of them. The lights changed color and soon a new image surrounded me. It showed the wooden frame of the building. I pushed the arrow again. This time the image changed to a giant blueprint. I started to piece things together. They were building something here. Still, the only blueprints I had ever seen were on a piece of paper. I pushed the button again. This time a design appeared. I guessed it must have been what was going to be painted on the outside. Elegant, golden vines formed over the arch of a large, silver door whish had two oversized handles. There were also few lines and ribbon designs that pointed to a large, silver circle with a large, jewel encrusted, golden-brown "T". I could only guess that was the first letter of the name of the person who owned the house. Ego I guess.

I wasn't gaining anything by just standing there, at any rate. I figured I should leave and go to the hospital. Or maybe my house. For some reason I wasn't really concerned about it. I walked here, and I could walk back. Since the building was only light, I figured I could walk right through it. I strolled up to one of the walls and casually walked through.

Only to bump my head on something solid.

My head screamed in pain and I started getting dizzy again. I shook it off and investigated the solid object I had run into. At first I thought the projector actually made a solid wall, but I realized I had run into the wooden skeleton of the building. The real one. It seemed that construction had already started. I negotiated my way around the wooden post and walked outside into a chilling wind. I looked up and down the street. It wasn't like it was before. The street was eerily empty and quiet. But the odd part wasn't how the road was, but the fact it was there at all! There had been no wide road here, or we would have been seen by a passing car. There had only been a small, abandoned dirt path.

Right, my friends. I thought they would have waited for me. Or maybe they went to get help. I thought about it while still looking around. I noticed there were other houses, again not as I had remembered. There were no houses before the unfortunate accident with the old building (gone as well). The houses were black with dark windows. They looked new, but vacant. Perhaps it was some project to help the homeless? But what caught my attention was that on every house there was a large "T" similar to the one I had seen from the projector. The only difference was it was intertwined with a smaller and more modest "G".

As interesting as it all was, I was still confused about why everything was here. Had I been out for a year? It seemed possible, but impossible at the same time. Maybe I was in a coma at some hospital. It seemed more plausible then anything else I thought of. I started walking down the road. Maybe, somewhere in this twisted fantasy, I could find my home.

I walked along the quiet road, folding my arms around me to keep warm. I still was looking around, but nothing changed. There was just one black house after another. I wasn't sure if I was traveling in circles or what. I kept going until I came to a small path that crossed the road. One direction lead to more houses, and the other seemed to lead to a forest. I was tired of the old scenery, and didn't think the road would get me anywhere, so I took the path towards the forest.

While I was walking, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a floating blue dot. I changed course and walked onto the soft grass, headed for the strange spot. I kept my eyes on it as I got closer, making sure it didn't move. I thought it might be some kind of bug, but it wasn't. It was a lifeless glowing circle. I reached out and tried to grab it, only to find my hand hit something. I pressed my hand against the dot. I heard a small click as black liquid started to flow out of the sky. I stepped back, thoroughly surprised. After all the black liquid was gone, what was left was a small, black, windowless building. I touched the wall to see it was dry. It dawned on me; the black stuff wasn't liquid, but the wall of the building appearing. Though explained, it still didn't make any sense.

Next to the blue dot, which turned out to be a button, was a door. It was set back in a small arch. I tried the doorknob to find that it was unlocked. As curiosity got the best of me, I opened it and peered inside.

The building had only one small room. It was painted a light brown color, and nothing but a chair and a ladder leaning against a wall. There was a single bulb hanging from the ceiling that let off a soft glow. The light was barely enough to see by. My gaze wandered to a shadow on the other side of the room. I crept closer to get a better look. What I saw was, to say the least, unusual.

It was a girl, her hands tied together by a rope that reached to the ceiling. I looked at her for a second, debating on weather I should help her. Maybe she wanted to be up there, though it was highly unlikely. It would make sense if her clothes weren't dirty and torn. Perhaps a prisoner? So why should I help her? She could have killed someone for all I know. Or maybe she was from some cannibalistic war tribe…

My brain struggled with the possibilities, but ultimately I decided that if I freed her and ran, she could do me no harm. I grabbed the ladder and stood it against one of the walls. Testing it for sturdiness, I placed my foot on the first wrung. Good enough. I climbed slowly, as there was no one holding the ladder at the bottom, and the ground was pretty smooth. I noticed this as a problem when I noticed that I was slowly coming to a more horizontal position and, at the same time, loosing altitude. I looked down and, lo and behold, the ladder was slowly sliding away from the wall.

Time was not on my side. I quickly climbed to the top of the ladder and, without thinking, jumped to the rope that had been tied to the ceiling.

I heard the ladder fall to the ground, and decided to spare myself the sight of it. I clutched the rope harder, hoping it would be strong enough to hold me. I shook it slightly in a sad attempt to wake the girl up. However, my efforts did not seem to be in vain. I was met by a chilling pair of red eyes.

I took a deep breath and fiddled around in my pockets for something that would be remotely helpful. I settled on a small army knife. I flipped out the knife and set it against the rope, sawing vigorously as small bits of the thick rope began to fray and rip apart.

Finally, the rope had thinned to a point where it would rip apart easily. I gripped the rope and pulled hard. Small snaps were heard as the last strings of twine broke apart. Unfortunately, I hardly noticed that the rope was broken before I felt the weight of the girl suddenly jerked my arm down. I was all at once in free-fall, my brain not quick enough to tell my hand to release the rope.

Somehow, the girl managed to untwist herself from the rope. By the time I made hard contact with the floor (my arms and legs bending to absorb the shock), she had strolled casually to the door. She fiddled with some buttons, trying to get the door open, while I tried to untangle myself from the rope. Thankfully, the rope finally gave in and I was freed. However, my temporary relief vanished the second I heard a wailing siren blare from somewhere outside of the square building. The girl had already figured out the door and quickly pulled it open. Not caring to check on me, mind you. In any case, it's not like I wanted to stay behind and find out what the sirens meant. I stumbled to my feet and headed towards the door.

The cold night air bit into me, the chill more fierce than I remembered it. I caught a flash of red hair in the general direction of the forest and decided that following the girl was my best hope. I ran after her, away from the sirens.

I caught up to the girl in a small circle of trees. She sat on a rock, trying to untangle her long hair. For a moment I wondered if she was at all sane; I just saved her from who knows what danger and she was fretting over split ends.

"H-hey you!" I said, panting. I realized how hard I had been running as I hat to catch my breath for the second time that night. She looked at me, uninterested, but stood and faced me. She stood tall, forming an almost calm atmosphere.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

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Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are very welcome. Come on, review. You know you wanna! 


	2. Off to a Rough Start

Okay so this is chapter two of the story

Okay so this is chapter two of the story. I hope you liked the first one. Once again I don't own anything from Dark Cloud 2 (though I really wish I did).

By the way you have probably already noticed this if you read the previous version of my story, but I changed Kicho's name to Fezdon (Fez for short). I guess I was just getting tired of the name…

Enjoy!

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(Fezdon)

I sat there dumbly. For some reason I did not expect her to talk. Maybe the idea of the wild cannibal had gotten the better of me. Her gaze was unyielding, but hardly savage.

"You're welcome." I said shakily. Her gaze seemed to tangle my mind.

She studied me carefully and, despite myself, I wondered if she thought I looked like I would taste good. She muttered things to herself that I couldn't understand and shook her head, as if disappointed.

"So, that was some… uh… pretty hairy trouble back there. You know, sirens and… err…" At this point I realized that striking up conversations wasn't my strong point. She cocked her head to the side.

"Security systems, I would have to guess." She looked distracted as she spoke, looking at the surrounding forest. Suddenly, she grabbed onto a nearby tree and started climbing. It would have looked far more impressive if she didn't slip so many times. It almost seemed like she had been trained to do this kind of thing, but wasn't used to it. I folded my arms and waited. Somehow, with the air of importance that the girl gave off, it gave me pleasure to know that she wasn't as good as she thought. Then again, maybe I was judging before I got to a chance to know her.

I started to whistle as the girl scrambled up the tree. She turned to glare at me, and then looked ahead.

"It looks like the forest ends not too far from here," she said, dropping down to land in a cat-like stance on the ground. I stared at her in disbelief.

"I don't think so. We just got _into _the forest, so it can't end. That would make it a…" I searched for the right word, "not forest." the girl rolled her eyes- how rude- and turned toward what was supposedly the end of the forest.

"What is your name?" she asked, switching gears.

"Err, Fezdon. And you?"

"Monica Ray-" she stopped abruptly. "Monica"

"Ah," I said, not sure how to respond. Something in her tone said she was hiding something. Then again, I was never too good at sensing these things.

"We should be heading out of this forest now." Monica looked around, and I felt that uneasiness that she had before. Not that I was a jungle dweller myself, but she seemed anxious to get out of the dense clump of trees.

Though Monica said the forest was thin, it was torture weaving through the thick vines and branches. Not to mention the fact that it was incredibly dark, making the journey that much worse. I tried again to make small talk.

"You said security systems, right?" I asked. She stopped.

"Yes, I suppose that's what they were," she sighed, running her hand through her long hair, a red tint still visible in the moonlight. I waited for her to go on. She must have sensed my impatience.

"I would suspect they went off because I left," she completed. "I guess I wasn't supposed to escape."

The way she said it made it far more likely that it wasn't a guess. I wanted to pry, but suddenly the trees gave way to a grassy field. I blinked a few times before I had realized what had happened. Sure enough, this was the end of the forest, but it was so sudden. But as I turned to look at the forest, I noticed that it did seem to cut off rather abruptly. The effect wasn't natural, if instinct was anything to go by.

What we had ended up in was a valley, at the middle of which was a large town. It was built in an upside down cone; the taller buildings surrounded the outside while the shortest ones stood at the center. That is, with the exception of one tall tower that stretched above every other structure standing. It stood at the exact middle of the town, casting a long shadow over the buildings behind it.

"Is that our destination?" I asked Monica. She simply shrugged. I figured we might as well give it a look. "Well then, that's where we'll go."

"What's with all this 'we'll' business? I never agreed to go anywhere with you." Just as I thought, she must have suspected herself royal, if not just a snob.

"Hey, you owe me!" I said angrily.

"For what?" She almost seemed genuinely intrigued. Almost.

"Yeah, I just saved you! The least you could do is help me out a little." I waited, but she seemed to ignore me. I tried to fight the urge to yell.

She sighed. "Fine, _we'll _go down there," she said. "Happy now?"

I decided her snooty remark wasn't worthy of an answer.

The town was pretty simple. As I had seen, the tallest buildings ringed the outside, slowly dipping into the middle. At the center of town there was a small, perfectly circular park. Around it, simple shops and restaurants sported elegant signs, declaring their name in bold, fancy lettering. Oddly, the style of the small area didn't match the rest of the town. All the other buildings were made of concrete or steel. I didn't even know that they could build things this tall out of steel. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. Monica, however, didn't seem so struck by it. She walked on, and I doubt she would have even cared if I followed.

The building Monica was headed towards seemed to be an inn of some sort. I hardly paid attention to the actual name of it; something about the design bothered me. There was a large "T", a golden-brown color with jewels surrounding it. I knew I had seen it somewhere, but it evaded my memory.

"Two rooms please." Monica said in a polite voice. She seemed to have forgotten that she looked practically homeless. Leaves and twigs stuck out of her hair and bits of mud were smudged onto her face. I couldn't expect that I looked much better, but I wasn't the one going into some fancy establishment asking for two rooms.

"Um... well we only have one room available." The attendant spoke lightly, but the undertone of suspicion was clear. She had been thinking the same thing as me.

Monica scowled. "I guess _we'll_ take that one," She threw a glance over her shoulder at me.

"Great!" the woman said, but a strange look crossed her face. "How will you be paying?"

Monica opened her mouth to say something but, seemingly thinking better of it, started to rummage around in her pocket. From it she produced a large badge. "I think this will do," she said holding the badge up.

The woman looked at it and her eyes widened. "Well, well Miss Ray-" Monica cleared her throat loudly. "Miss, enjoy your stay."

I tried to look at the badge, but Monica quickly returned it to her pocket.

"What was that all about?" I asked as she plodded quickly through the hall. She said nothing, of course, but I figured I should ask anyway.

When we reached our room, Monica quickly swept in and silently claimed one of the beds. The nerve. I sat on the other bed, making a point to stay as far as I could.

"Might as well get some sleep." she said. "Never know what's going to happen next." And just like that, she was asleep. Simply unbelievable. I curled up on my bed and tried to close my eyes, but only when things had become quiet did I have time to focus on the day. The whole thing happened so fast, and now I was in the middle of it. I just could not wrap my head around it.

The next morning I woke up, groaning as I felt a slight ache in my muscles. I caught a look at Monica standing in front of a mirror, brushing her hair, something I would have thought impossible had I not seen it myself. She then proceeded to put a series of hair bands in it, forming it into an impossibly long ponytail. She caught a glimpse of me in the mirror and waved me off impatiently. What a little-

"Hey, Fezdon," she called suddenly.

"Yes, your majesty," I said. She flinched, glared at me, then returned to examining herself in the mirror. After a final check, she stood, dusted herself, and turned to me.

"This look okay?"

"Yeah yeah, whatev-" The words stuck in my throat. Now clean and groomed, Monica now seemed to radiate a soft glow. I could feel my face growing hot. I turned away.

"Looks fine…" I mumbled.

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Now, as you second time readers may have noticed, I have written my chapters to a more reasonable length. Also, I changed a lot of stuff. After some thought, I decided Monica probably wouldn't be "jungle survival" girl.

Aaaaaand, just in case you were thinking it, and as much as the last bit of this chapter implies, Fez just thinks Monica's pretty. Nothing more. Not saying that anyone would think otherwise, but just in case…

Hope you enjoyed chapter 2!

Oh, and next chapter, I'll make a bio for Fez-fez (Fezdon). It might help you understand this chapter a bit.


	3. The Fox

Sorry it took so long for chapter 3

Ah, chapter 3. Happy times are upon us! Hopefully you people are still reading. It'll get better, I promise!

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(Monica)

"Looks fine," Fezdon grumbled. He had turned away, for whatever reason. It really didn't matter.

"Okay, well..." I started. Fezdon turned, his eyes now directed to the floor.

"Yeah?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but couldn't find anything to say. I suppose I really hadn't figured out what to do yet. Truthfully, I thought that I might be locked up in that prison for quite a bit longer. However, some half-wit boy came to my rescue. I knew I owed him a favor, but traveling with him would surely slow me down.

I looked at Fezdon. He had lost interest in the carpet and was now spinning slowly around, examining the room. A weird expression caught his face. A feeling of confusion, maybe. He walked over to the kitchenette, stopping to examine the toaster.

"What's this?" he asked, pointing to the toaster.

"Uh, a toaster, I would think." I replied. It was a battle to keep the annoyance out of my voice. Fezdon picked up the small, metallic box.

"Toaster, huh? Wow, new model, I guess. Never seen anything like it."

I wasn't sure if the little boy had suffered brain damage or was just severely behind the times.

"Yeah, okay. We don't really have time to be talking about toasters."

Fezdon cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows, frowning.

"What?" I asked. His intense look was making me uncomfortable.

"How do we not have time if we're not doing anything?"

I thought about it. It was a good question. For once. "We ought to head to the kingdom capital."

Fezdon gave me another odd look."What kingdom?"

I was leaning towards brain damage now.

"The kingdom, you know..." I said. He remained clueless. "A bunch of land? With a big castle in the middle?"

"Well, yeah, I know what a kingdom is. I just didn't know we had one." Finally, it looked like we were getting somewhere. Maybe this boy wasn't such a-

"Wait, did you say 'didn't know we had one'?" Fezdon's expression changed to one of slight anger.

"Well, yeah. What would the mayor be there for, then?"

Even I was getting confused, now. "Where have you been? We haven't had a mayor for about seventy years!"

Fezdon stared at me for a moment, then shook his head.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. Let's just do something." I nodded in agreement. _All this thinking must be making his poor little brain hurt _I thought to myself.

We traveled down to the hotel's small dining room. I walked through the short buffet-like line while Fezdon found a table. I received another odd glance as I arrived at the table carrying two heaping plates of bread, cereal, and assorted flavors of muffins.

"Geez, one man army. You're going to eat all of that?"

"Excuse me, but I don't remember the last time you were stuck in a small room hanging from the ceiling with no food."

"Yeah, but you've only known me for, let's see..." Fezdon began to count on his fingers.

"That's not what I meant!" I sighed heavily, making sure that Fezdon could hear the annoyance that swirled inside me. "It doesn't matter. Just mind your own business and let me eat."

Over breakfast, I ate while Fezdon twiddled his thumbs. Finally, he refocused on me.

"So, what do we do now?" He asked, absently brushing crumbs off the table.

"Well," I said, "we have to figure out why you're here and who put me in that room."

"So you don't know who put you in there? That's no good."

"Yeah, I figured as much." I evaluated our situation. "I suggest we walk about the town for a bit and see what we can dig up."

* * *

We stayed in the area of the park and small shops. People milled about or watched their children play on the grass. The atmosphere was light and friendly, except for the fact that everyone seemed to avoid anyone they didn't know. Groups of people would move out of the way for others, keeping the conversation in their small parties.

"We might find some more information in the outer part of town," I said. "This place is all old-fashioned. Not many people to talk to around here."

"Old-fashion? I don't really think so." Fezdon said thoughtfully. I was beginning to think that the phrase "living under a rock" started out with people like him.

"Well, whatever you say. Let's just get out of here and ask about- oof!" Fezdon fell backwards as he ran into a large man.

"Watch where you're goin'." The man said in a gruff voice. Fezdon just sat on the ground, looking up at the man. Or rather, his belt.

I followed Fezdon's gaze to a large sheath that hung at the man's waist.

"What you gapin' at, boy?" The man stared down at Fezdon. "Oh, want a taste of my blade, do ya?" he asked, almost politely. However, the man pulling out his sword was hardly courtious. He pointed it at Fezdon's throat.

I decided that, even though Fezdon was a complete idiot, I would rather keep him alive than see his blood all over the ground. I searched for something that would save the little imbecile's life. My hand fell to a small lump in my boot.

A hidden dagger! It was my lucky day.

Of course, I would have liked to wonder where this little pointy treasure came from, but there were more pressing things to attend to at that moment.

I carefully set the dagger's edge on the large man's neck.

"Touch that kid and his won't be the only blood spilled today." That seemed to do the trick. The man spat, sheathing his sword and turning to walk away.

"You talk a lot for a li'l girl," he said spitefully.

"You tremble a lot for a 'tough guy'," I retorted.

A soft applause emerged from the shadows. I spun to face the sound.

There it was, the strangest thing I had ever seen. It was a normal white fox. Only, it stood on it's feet. Two of them, I mean.

Oh, and it talked.

"Amazing, simply amazing," it said. Its, or her, tone was soft and strict, almost hypnotic. She held out a furry hand. "Toko, pleased to meet you."

"Monica," I said, slipping my dagger back into my boot. Fezdon didn't respond. He had assumed a sluggish state not unlike a sleepy turtle.

"Right," she said, retracting her unused hand in disappointment. "You've done us a great favor by warding off that man." She reached into a small pouch and produced a sheet of folded paper. "A token of my thanks," she said as she held it out.

I had no sooner taken my reward from her hand that the fox woman had disspapered.

"Hey, we're heading back to the hotel now," I called to Fezdon, eager to examine the small prize.

This was going to be a good day.

* * *

That's it! Yeah, I'm going to send it to a beta reader... just not now. Have fun.

And for those who were thinking it cough sana-chan9 cough, I meant sword as in the flat piece of steel that has pointy edges.


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